Column Bigfoot Around the World: Finding Bigfoot Goes Overseas The search for the Yowie in Australia‚ the Orang Pendek in Sumatra‚ the Tari in Viet Nam‚ the Yeren in China‚ and the Yeti in Nepal… By Judith Tarr | Published on March 18‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed So far in this chapter of the SFF Bestiary I’ve focused more on the humans who hunt Bigfoot that on the cryptid itself. Bigfooters are an interesting subculture‚ not least for the persistence of their belief in a creature for which there is no convincing scientific evidence. And yet‚ there are all those stories‚ all over the world. The Finding Bigfoot team concentrated primarily on North America‚ but from Season 3 onward‚ once or twice each season they ventured overseas in search of other fabled primates. They searched for the Yowie in Australia‚ the Orang Pendek in Sumatra‚ the Tari in Viet Nam‚ the Yeren in China‚ the Yeti in Nepal‚ and somewhat anticlimactically‚ a combination of medieval legends and modern sightings of big hairy man-apes in the UK. The last featured two very American males in a Scottish forest at night‚ in kilts‚ in the worst infestation of midges in thirty years. Which pretty well sums up the experience of hunting the legendary Wild Man in the British Isles. It’s striking how consistent the stories are‚ and how old they purport to be. Native Americans and First Nations in North America knew various forms of the Sasquatch before European colonization. The Yowie is an Aboriginal tradition. In Asia‚ the stories are supposedly centuries old. The animal they describe is bipedal and covered in black or brown or reddish hair; Hollywood and graphic novels notwithstanding‚ the Yeti is the same color as the rest of its relatives‚ not white or light grey. Sasquatch appears to be the largest‚ but the Yowie is close‚ and the Yeren and the Tari and the Yeti are not much smaller. The Orang Pendek is more like what we might expect a known primate to be: about four feet tall‚ but massive and powerful‚ with huge arms. The Finding Bigfoot team keeps noting how similar each subspecies is to the Sasquatch. There are variations‚ but they’re fairly minor. Bigfoot vocalizations are not that far off the hoots and howls of the Yowie or the Tari or the Yeti‚ or the birdlike chittering of the Yeti or the Yeren. And of course there are the very large‚ very wide tracks that give Bigfoot its best-known name. All of these primates seem to gravitate toward mountains and forests. Even the Yeti or Abominable Snowman does not actually live in the snows of the Himalayas. It lives in the deep‚ richly forested‚ well-watered valleys below the peaks. Sasquatch is an omnivore‚ and most of its cousins seem to be as well. The Orang Pendek may be an outlier: it raids farmsteads on the edges of the jungle‚ and steals the farmers’ crops‚ which indicates it may be vegetarian. There are stories of the Yowie stealing goats and gutting them and hanging them in trees‚ but it may also graze on plants. The Yeti has been seen beside rivers or ponds‚ hunting for frogs. The Tari‚ it’s said‚ will grab you by the arm in daylight and hold you until dark‚ and then eat you; but that’s unusual in Bigfoot lore. Bigfoot in general is a peaceable creature‚ shy and elusive‚ much more likely to run away from a human than to attack. It’s so elusive in fact that no one has been able to prove its existence. There’s no concrete evidence. With one controversial exception. The Finding Bigfoot crew travels to Pangboche Monastery in Nepal‚ which guards a unique treasure: an arm and part of a skull that purports to be that of a Yeti. The arm is large‚ long‚ with long‚ skeletal fingers‚ and the skull is a pointed dome with a rim of short reddish hair. Peter Byrne‚ one of the first Westerners to make a career of hunting the Yeti‚ claims to have stolen one of the fingers and taken it back to London‚ where it was determined to be human. The crew doesn’t believe it‚ of course. The proportions are too far off. The fingers are too long. It has to be a Yeti. The skull is definitely not human. Its shape is similar to that of the Sasquatch‚ tall and pointed. Matt has a theory about it. The head shape evolved‚ he opines‚ for living in rainy areas‚ “like a peaked roof.” The episode glosses over a truly wild saga‚ naming only Yeti hunters Peter Byrne and Tom Slick‚ and not even mentioning a possible connection with actor Jimmy Stewart and his wife Gloria. The upshot is that the relics are most probably faked‚ and at least part of the hand is human. The whole thing seems to owe more to the ethos of P.T. Barnum than to credible science. And yet‚ as resident skeptic and field biologist Ranae notes‚ it’s not entirely unlikely that an unknown primate might exist in the remoter parts of the world‚ which would include the Australian rain forest‚ the Indonesian jungle‚ and the valleys of the Himalayas. Her teammate Cliff Barackman points out the recent discovery in Southeast Asia of a largeish bovid‚ the Saola or Vu Quang ox. If an animal the size of a good-sized cow can hide in the jungle‚ why not a large ape? Both Viet Nam and China have lent official credence to the existence of their countries’ respective forms of Bigfoot. Viet Nam has a national park designated as a reserve for the Tari‚ despite the lack of concrete evidence that the creature exists. The Chinese government has mounted expeditions to search for the Yeren‚ and welcomed the team with great ceremony when they arrived in Shennongjia in the mountains of central China. It’s a sharp contrast with the skepticism they met elsewhere. I’m indebted to the Finding Bigfoot team for compiling all these stories and traveling to the places where they’re told. It’s a great summary of the lore‚ and a solid overview of the big-hairy-primate variety of cryptid. Wherever the story comes from‚ whatever it’s based on‚ it goes way‚ way back. Who knows; maybe it’s a memory of a time when more than one species of hominid lived in the world.[end-mark] The post Bigfoot Around the World: <;i>;Finding Bigfoot<;/i>; Goes Overseas appeared first on Reactor.

Match-3 games have taken mobile gaming by storm‚ and one of the best is Royal Match. If you have exhausted everything Royal Match offers or are just interested in trying something new but similar‚ this is the guide for you. This article explores 10 games similar to Royal Match in terms of gameplay‚ visual style‚ and addictive nature.  Mayor Match Image: Rollic Games Mayor Match is so similar to Royal Match that I wouldn’t blame you if you thought the game was a sequel. It follows the same premise: Match three colored items in a row to earn points and level up your area. This time‚ your area is the Mayor’s house instead of a castle. The artwork is nearly identical‚ with the same style and vibe. Royal Match and Mayor Match resemble each other so much that even the main character looks the same. Toon Blast Image: Peak Out of all the games mentioned in this list‚ Toon Blast is my favorite. I used to spend hours playing this mobile game because it ...

The Rev. Dr. Taylor Filmore Ealy faced many struggles‚ most not of his own making‚ while a Presbyterian medical missionary between 1874 and 1881—first at Fort Arbuckle‚ on the Chickasaw Reservation in Oklahoma Territory; then in volatile Lincoln‚ New Mexico Territory; and finally at Zuni Pueblo‚ also in New Mexico Territory. Some of that time he kept a journal. Daughter Ruth drew on his journal entries‚ as well as the recollections and correspondence of her father and mother‚ Mary‚ to write Water in a Thirsty Land—first privately issued in 1955 in a limited edition of 40 copies. Editor David Thomas resurrects the Ealy chronicle as Vol. 10 of Doc45’s Mesilla Valley History series. In his excellent introduction Thomas provides not only overviews of the three Western locales where the Ealys lived‚ but also brief biographies of the major figures in Ruth’s narrative. Perhaps of greatest interest is the time the Ealys spent in Lincoln‚ as the family arrived on the day murdered English rancher John Tunstall’s body was brought into town. It was the latter’s murder that triggered the 1878 Lincoln County War‚ and it was the Rev. Dr. Ealy who delivered Tunstall’s funeral oration at the home of Alexander McSween. Forty-one days later the doctor and family witnessed the killing of Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady and Deputy George Hindman‚ and the Ealys were also present for the five-day shootout in Lincoln that culminated with the burning of the McSween house and Alexander’s murder. In his journal Ealy noted that Colonel Nathan Dudley‚ the commander at Fort Stanton‚ “refused to protect McSween and ordered his men not to fire over Dudley’s camp‚ or he would turn the cannon on them. My wife read his note to reply to McSween’s request for protection. McSween’s house‚ where his party had taken refuge‚ was deliberately set on fire.” Such violence is what ultimately drove the family out of Lincoln. The Rev. Dr. Ealy then spent nearly three years as a missionary teacher at Zuni Pueblo‚ 150 miles west of Albuquerque. There was no gunplay there‚ but Ealy experienced plenty of cultural shock. “He had gained the respect of many of the Indians who more and more were beginning to realize the value of an education‚” wrote Ruth (who was born in East Waterford‚ Pa.‚ in 1877 and died in St. Petersburg‚ Fla.‚ in 1959). “The religious dances still interfered with the school attendance‚ it is true‚ but the children seemed to be enjoying their schoolwork. He had learned to like his Indian friends.” It was—and remains—mighty dry country‚ and Ealy often noted in his journal how the Zunis danced day and night for rain.  Water in a Thirsty Land By Ruth R. Ealy‚ edited by David Thomas‚ Doc45 Publishing‚ 2022 get it on amazon If you buy something through our site‚ we might earn a commission.

We present you funny dog posts from Mar 10 to Mar 16 that will paws-itively make you through the rest of the week!

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Octopus farming has officially been outlawed in Washington state thanks to a first-of-its-kind bill being signed into law.Washington HB 1153‚ which prohibits octopus farming in the state‚ was officially signed into law on March 13‚ 2024‚ after receiving the green light from Governor Jay Inslee. The policy will come into action on June 11‚ 90 days after receiving the governor’s signature.“Octopus farming hurts our environment and causes suffering for octopuses and it is well past time to prohibit this callous practice‚” representative Strom Peterson who sponsored the bill said in a statement.“Octopuses should be able to shout and swim about the coral that lies beneath the waves. They shouldn’t be confined to pens. There should be no one there to tell them what to do‚” Peterson said‚ referring to The Beatles' tune "Octopus's Garden". While there are currently no large-scale octopus farms in the world‚ several companies and producers are looking to change that. Spanish seafood company‚ Nueva Pescanova‚ has set its sights on building an octopus farm in the Canary Islands. It’s currently waiting for final approval‚ but it would be the first commercial venture to rear and slaughter octopuses on an industrial scale‚ killing around 1 million animals each year.This latest law ensures that the practice is preemptively banned in Washington state. Other states‚ including California and Hawai'i‚ are also weighing up similar legislation.   The environmental impact of octopus aquaculture is a major concern‚ but much of the debate focuses on whether it is ethical to farm extremely intelligent animals. Along with other cephalopods‚ octopuses are undeniably smart creatures with a unique complex nervous system‚ capable of advanced problem-solving and learning. It’s even been suggested that they are sentient creatures with individual personalities. Many believe their behavior makes them ill-suited to life in captivity and mass-production. Octopuses are typically solitary animals that dwell in dark environments‚ but mass production of their meat would require thousands of animals to be stored in well-lit tanks. They would likely be slaughtered by being dunked in a tank of ice slurry kept at -3°C (26.6°F)‚ which some research has indicated can cause stress and severe pain in other marine creatures. Given this context‚ animal welfare advocates have celebrated the recent move in Washington state. Aquatic Life Institute (ALI) launched a campaign to ban octopus farming in 2022 and‚ along with numerous other NGOs‚ has been continually pushing for legalization to prohibit the practice worldwide. "Aquatic Life Institute applauds Governor Inslee's leadership on this critically important issue of environment and animal welfare. Washington State is laying the path to a more sustainable and humane future‚” Sophika Kostyniuk‚ Managing Director of Aquatic Life Institute‚ said in a statement to IFLScience.“In the midst of an ecological crisis‚ the people of Washington State have passed the world’s first statewide ban on octopus farming. The decision is historic and visionary‚ and shows that industrial octopus production is not inevitable. We can stop the mass production of octopuses before it begins‚” Dr Jennifer Jacquet‚ a Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Miami‚ said in another statement. 

A new simulation challenges the way we picture one of the most famous stars in the night sky. Betelgeuse is among the top 20 brightest stars (although occasionally it is not) and is a red supergiant‚ the final stage of stellar evolution leading into a supernova. We usually picture stars as big plasma balls – but a new simulation shows that when we get to the red supergiants‚ that view is not correct.Betelgeuse is enormous compared to the Sun. Its radius is at least 640 times the solar radius but might get to a bit over 1‚000 times – If placed in the solar system‚ it would stretch past the orbit of Jupiter. A few hundred million suns would fit in that volume‚ but it has a mass of about 15 suns‚ which suggests an extremely low density in the outer layers.Betelgeuse is around 500 light-years away from us‚ close enough in cosmic terms that we can see features on its surface. Those features could suggest two things: Either that the star is rapidly rotating‚ or that its surface is rapidly changing. Both are valid and possible‚ but each requires something more. If rotation is correct‚ then that something extra is cannibalism.        “Most stars are just tiny points of light in the night sky. Betelgeuse is so incredibly large and nearby that‚ with the very best telescopes‚ it is one of the very few stars where we actually observe and study its boiling surface. It still feels a bit like a Science Fiction movie‚ as if we have traveled there to see it up close‚” study coauthor Selma de Mink‚ director at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics‚ said in a statement. “And the results are so exciting. If Betelgeuse is rapidly rotating after all‚ then we think it must have been spun up after eating a small companion star that was orbiting it.”The other interpretation is that convection – just like the boiling water in a pasta pot – creates bubbles of plasma as large as Earth’s entire orbit that come up and go down extremely fast. The surface of red supergiants should be changing constantly‚ but in the simulated scenarios‚ the bubbles need to move at about 30 kilometers (19 miles) per second. The simulations suggest that the boiling plasma scenario can explain the apparent fast rotation of the star in about 90 percent of modeled scenarios. More data is necessary to understand if this is indeed the case.Some of the data collected by the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) in 2022 is now being analyzed to help provide more clarity. The simulations also allow prediction about future observations and that’s intriguing. Currently‚ Betelgeuse is dimming again‚ likely one of its periodic changes in brightness.“There is so much we still don’t understand about gigantic boiling stars like Betelgeuse‚” added co-author Andrea Chiavassa‚ an astronomer at CNRS. “How do they really work? How do they lose mass? What molecules can form in their outflows? Why did Betelgeuse suddenly get less bright? We are working very hard to make our computer simulations better and better‚ but we really need the incredible data from telescopes like ALMA.”The paper reporting the findings is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Google has been getting away with election interference for at least 16 years‚ and it is showing no signs of stopping. MRC Free Speech America researchers compiled 41 times Google was caught interfering in U.S. elections‚ beginning in 2008‚ intensifying in 2016 and continuing into 2024. MRC researchers found carefully crafted studies and numerous reports (from 2008 through February 2024) that have consistently demonstrated the tech behemoth’s election meddling.  MRC founder and President Brent Bozell highlighted just how dangerous Google’s election interference is. “Google’s massive and deliberate efforts to interfere in U.S. elections for the past 16 years is unacceptable and the biggest threat to American democracy today‚” said Bozell.  Over the years‚ Google has repeatedly used its power to help push the most liberal candidates to electoral victory while targeting their opponents. In 2008‚ the company used a light touch helping then-Senator Barack Hussein Obama (D-IL)‚ its favored primary candidate‚ and undermining his opponent‚ then-Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).  But after Democrats took a devastating loss in the 2016 election‚ evidence collected by MRC shows that election interference became part of its mission. As one Google executive let slip in a secretly recorded interview‚ the company was working to actively “prevent[] the next Trump situation.” After Donald Trump became president‚ the tech behemoth’s election interference went from making an appearance every four years to rearing its ugly head every two years. Each time it attempted to dismiss the issue and downplay its nefarious actions. But when viewed together as a historical whole‚ Google’s election interference has been consistent and has only grown more and more expansive.   Below are some of the highlights of MRC’s findings.  In 2008‚ Google endorsed the radical‚ young Sen. Obama and censored support for Sen. Clinton. Journalist Simon Owens reported at the time that the tech giant suspended the accounts of writers who wrote pro-Clinton blogs critical of Obama. “[N]early all of [the censored bloggers] had three things in common‚” Owens wrote. “Most were pro-Hillary Clinton blogs‚ all were anti-Barack Obama‚ and several were listed on justsaynodeal.com‚ an anti-Obama website.” Google allowed users to smear then-leading GOP candidate for president Rick Santorum. Google refused to correct a “Google bomb” that smeared Santorum. Google “bombing” used to be a way for users to manipulate Google’s algorithm and associate websites and names with undesirable search terms. Google Search would connect the sites and terms if enough websites placed the same hyperlink over the same term or terms. The Big Tech company previously claimed that it had ended the popular internet pranks and had even corrected the issue when it impacted the White House’s webpage for Obama. But when Santorum’s team brought the issue to Google’s attention‚ the platform flat-out refused to resolve it‚ once again favoring Obama. In 2016‚ Google employed both its algorithm and its “partners” in futile attempts to push Clinton over the finish line. One study by SourceFed found that Google’s algorithm excluded potentially damaging autofill results for searches inquiring about Clinton’s alleged crimes and possible indictment during her scandalous tenure as Secretary of State. Google hid her flaws and instead suggested that users search for things like “Hillary Clinton crime reform” and “Hillary Clinton India” but did not do the same for other contentious searches for candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. The platform also worked with “partners” to bolster Latino votes‚ in the hopes of propping up Clinton‚ according to internal emails uncovered by then-Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson. A leaked email chain showed one employee explaining how Google made a “silent donation” by working with its partner Voto Latino to pay for Latino voters to get rides to the polls in “key states.” The tech giant also “helped them create ad campaigns to promote the rides.” These and similar methods of election interference and censorship likely contributed to the 2.6 million votes that Google shifted in 2016‚ according to data scientist and research psychologist Robert Epstein.  Just as the election categorically changed the country's political temperature‚ 2016 changed things at Google. Shortly after the election‚ at a company-wide meeting‚ Google’s CFO Ruth Porat promised Google employees that the company would use its “great strength and resources and reach” to advance its leftist values. The company kept that promise‚ and after 2016‚ Google’s censorship grew in scale. Researchers uncovered clear evidence of election interference in 2018. Research showed Google’s “significant pro-liberal bias” would be “enough‚ quite easily‚ to have flipped all three congressional districts in Orange County from Republican to Democrat.” Indeed‚ all three flipped blue. That same election cycle‚ Google labeled “Nazism” as one of the California GOP’s ideologies when users searched for the political party. AllSides‚ a firm that rates news outlets for political bias‚ found that just five percent of the stories that Google linked on its Google News homepage came from right-leaning media outlets. In turn‚ the platform pushed 15 times as much content from media outlets that AllSides identifies as left-leaning. Similarly‚ a search in the News tab for “Trump” displayed more than seven times as much content from media outlets that AllSides labels as left than those it deems as from the right on the first page of results.  In 2020‚ Google picked its favored and disfavored candidates and continued its biased censorship spree. During the 2020 Democratic primary‚ The tech giant disabled then-presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s Google Ads account just as she became the most searched candidate following the first Democratic Party primary debate. “Google’s discriminatory actions against my campaign are reflective of how dangerous their complete dominance over internet search is‚ and how the increasing dominance of big tech companies over our public discourse threatens our core American values‚” Gabbard said responding to the incident in a statement to The New York Times. The tech giant was also accused of blocking GOP fundraising emails from reaching users’ inboxes and sending out “go vote” reminders only to Democrats. These‚ and similar methods of election interference‚ likely contributed to the at least six million votes that Google shifted in 2020‚ according to research. In 2022‚ Google placed its thumb on the scale by censoring candidates in key races‚ and it continued censoring media. An MRC Free Speech America study found that Google buried 83 percent of the Republican campaign websites for the most competitive Senate races. Ten of the 12 candidates did not make the top 6 search results and 7 did not appear on the first page of search results at all. In similar searches‚ MRC Free Speech America examined how Google treated 10 politicians known for criticizing Big Tech‚ either legislatively or vocally. Researchers found that Google buried the campaign websites of all 10 politicians and seven of them did not appear at all on the first page of the results. MRC Free Speech America analyzed searches conducted in Georgia during the 2022 Senate run-off race between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R). In a very telling revelation‚ Google’s results favored Warnock in a swing precinct where greater proportions of undecided voters likely reside. The platform scrubbed Walker’s website from the first page of results altogether. AllSides also once again found Google News bias in 2020. The firm found that 61 percent of the stories included on the Google News homepage linked to leftist media outlets. Meanwhile‚ only three percent linked to right-leaning media outlets–a 20 to 1 disparity.  The 2024 election cycle is upon us‚ and Google has already begun interfering. MRC Free Speech America found that Google buried the campaign websites for every significant opponent of incumbent President Joe Biden (RFK‚ Jr. plus 15 Republican candidates). When searching for “Republican presidential campaign websites‚” Google returned Democrat Mariane Williamson‚ but not former President Donald Trump‚ Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‚ former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley‚ businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and others.) Additionally‚ Google's artificial intelligence Gemini (formerly Bard) has refused to answer prompts questioning two of Biden’s biggest weaknesses: the president’s mental health and the ongoing border crisis. The chatbot instead suggested the queries were election-related‚ which they are. “Elections are a complex topic with fast-changing information‚” Gemini claimed in response. "To make sure you have the latest and most accurate information‚ try Google Search.” Given the consistent nature of Google’s election interference and censorship prowess‚ the Big Tech giant must be made to come to heel. MRC Free Speech America recommends that Congress‚ State legislatures and American citizens take action to investigate Google and begin curbing its power to interfere in American democracy. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) should direct relevant committees and committee chairmans to investigate Google for abridging people’s constitutional rights; for coordinating with government to violate freedom of speech; for interfering in elections by making unreported in-kind contributions; and for defrauding its users by failing to meet its Terms of Service.  State legislatures should resolve any question of whether Google is a common carrier‚ which it is; and they can follow the lead of Texas and Florida to ensure that Big Tech cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination.  Americans should stop using Google products‚ particularly Google Search and instead opt for one of the many alternatives. From our research‚ alternatives appear to produce better‚ less biased results. You can read the full study here:   Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency‚ clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored‚ contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form‚ and help us hold Big Tech accountable.